


The Warmth of Heaven

by havocthecat



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M, Het, Sentient Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-11
Updated: 2007-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-02 12:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Elizabeth's sense of curiosity is always honed when they discover a new facet of Atlantis.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Warmth of Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://community.livejournal.com/havocs_cry/23638.html) on LJ.

Elizabeth is walking one of the less-used hallways of Atlantis. She turns to the left and pauses in a doorway. They've finally routed power into this section, and their first discovery was the room Elizabeth is surveying right now.

The walls are the same silvery metal as the rest of Atlantis, but they're covered with a blue sheen. Elizabeth takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and walks inside. She's seen every second of the footage of this room, translated at least half the inscriptions, and it still takes her breath away when she walks in here.

She goes to the opposite wall and runs her fingertips across the incisions. They're warm. "What else are you hiding from us?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at the walls. Her sense of curiosity is honed every time they discover a new facet of Atlantis.

The air in this section is almost always chilled, with the faint tang of salt permeating it. Warmth seeps from the walls into Elizabeth's hand. Her palm is flattened against it as she reads, a studious, intent look on her face.

It's a love story. One of the Ancients that lived here felt compelled to etch the tale of separated lovers. One was left behind on Earth, to guard the way to Atlantis. The other went flying through the void between galaxies to arrive in Pegasus, coming here to begin the process of creating life in a second galaxy.

They were never together again, and when Elizabeth thinks back to the files she read at the SGC. There was an Ancient found frozen in the Antarctic ice. She wonders if the guardian left behind might not be Ayiana.

A rush of sorrow for Ayiana and her loss fills her, then another wave of it swamps her. It's greater than any sorrow she might feel on her own. Unbidden, Elizabeth looks up. She knows that it's Atlantis. She doesn't know where it's coming from, what technology might be causing this, but she _knows_ it's Atlantis.

The warmth spreads from Elizabeth's palm through her body. She can feel love and acceptance mingled with sorrow. Atlantis loves her. She loves all of them. Right now, she sees inside Elizabeth's heart, and she shows Elizabeth what she sees.

She sees Elizabeth's efforts to connect with her. She sees the gene therapy, the failure to activate the ATA gene inside Elizabeth's DNA. The mere existence of the ATA gene proves what Atlantis knew ten thousand years ago, when Elizabeth first came to her. Elizabeth is a child of the Ancients.

They are all children of the Ancients. Carson's efforts are fumblings. They've started a return to what they lost millenia ago. Atlantis regrets its inability to aid him when the ATA therapy was first tested, but she was still mostly slumbering after so many years left to herself.

Elizabeth is no longer alone; _they_ are no longer alone. Elizabeth's skin is afire. She looks at the wall. It glows under her hand. Her skin is glowing as the Ancient script traces its way from the wall and along her body. It sinks in, and Elizabeth's eyes close.

She feels the delicate traceries of power running under the walls, the computer systems coming to life, all the subtle ways Atlantis exists within herself and those who love her. Elizabeth gave her heart to Atlantis before she arrived, and now Atlantis gives itself to her. It's everything she dreams, when she admits to herself that she dreams of Atlantis.

When she opens her eyes, John is standing in front of her. "Elizabeth."

His voice is rough and full of emotions he'll never talk about, and she reaches with her free hand to cup his face. "John." She smiles at him. It's more than a fond look. "Has it always been like this?"

"Now you know," he says. She can hear Atlantis humming in the back of her mind. Elizabeth doesn't know if Atlantis drew John to her, or if she found a way to work through Atlantis and draw him here. John loves Atlantis and their people as much as she loves them.

She knows, though, that he loves her. The story etched on Atlantis' walls is, in its way, her story, and John's story as well. This time the lovers haven't been separated. Atlantis knows they can't return to what they were, but she wants to move forward. She's got enough power now to find the way to do so. "This has been happening all over the city, hasn't it?"

"Carson's going nuts," says John, sharing Elizabeth's wry smile. "We should go see him."

"He's with Teyla right now." Elizabeth can't explain how she knows this. John wraps his arm around Elizabeth's waist. She shouldn't let him. It's inappropriate, but she feels Atlantis whispering to her how right it is, so she doesn't pull away.

"Everything's okay with the baby," says John. He rests his head against hers. "He's just making sure."

Atlantis is far more than just their home. As much as the city belongs to them, they belong to her. She knows them. She's always known them, but now they've become a part of each other. "I'm glad."

Tonight she and John will come together. Before Atlantis became the last outpost in a lost war, she was home to families. She wants the laughter of children echoing through her halls again. Elizabeth knows, just as John does, that they will do anything for their city. His hand brushes against her hip and she shivers. Tonight.

\--end--


End file.
